Being Half Japanese in Japan | ASIAN BOSS

hi everybody its Hiroko from Asian boss one of the more curious facts about Japanese society is that it is culturally and ethnically homogenous with over 98% of Japanese citizens being considered ethnic Japanese and comparatively speaking there is only a very small proportion of citizens who are either non Japanese or have mixed japanese blood known as how foods while many were born in japan speak japanese and contribute to the japanese economy there japanese nurses contested and considered by many as not being fully japanese but this creates both unique challenges and unexpected advantages to understand better what they actually face today we are going to meet three how happenes to discuss their experiences of living in japan curious let's meet our guests and talk more thanks for joining us today to start things off would you introduce yourself to everyone my name is chunky chunky Ogawa and I'm turning 27 I'm a musician i'm sailin tanaka i'm currently 19 years old and i am a fashion model for a living at a student I'm Alicia and I'm somewhere in my 20s and I'm currently a PhD student so we brought you all in today because you're considered half before we start things off would you explain what happens well half is a term used in Japan that describes someone who is half Japanese and half another country so my other half is from Bahamas I was born and raised in Bahamas for 15 years so I spent my basically my whole life there and then since I'm only 19 now I've only been here for four years from high school I'm half Italian but I was born and raised in the US so I don't know anything about really mine is Korean I was born and raised in Korea like I stayed there for 20 years Wow so I actually didn't have that much chances to speak Japanese so are you considered a foreigner in here because of your background I don't think because that's how I look they don't really treat me as like a foreigner because like they don't really recognize me as a Haffer unless I tell them so like but right after I tell them they kind of treat me as a foreigner kind of bit and you I would say for me I'm probably like the complete opposite so at first people would think that I'm like full foreigner but when I start speaking Japanese then they would understand that oh okay well he can speak Japanese so that means he must be half and then I get treated more like a Japanese person and your family name is Tanaka which is very Japanese yeah every time I go to like the doctor's office because they would call you by your last name like everyone would be stunned because they don't expect me to stand up when they call they might think that I'm like Johnson I know it's a bit too personal question but like how does your parents meet do you know about that I hadn't my mom and dad met in Korea hmm and my mom translated for him because she spoke Japanese and Korean pyth so my mom was in the entertaining entertainment section of a hotel so she would always have to be moved around in different countries and then she eventually ended up in Bahamas where she like met my dad and then they they got along and they well they started dating and then they they got married they got married first and then like a few years down the line then they had me in how about you um I think my mom and dad met in Hawaii hmm and my mom was on vacation in Hawaii and I think my dad was working at the hotel but they met I think their groups of friends like kind of like came together and I think my dad asked my mom for her I don't know I guess not digits because I don't think they had I think my mom went back to Japan after her trip to Hawaii and they wrote letters back and forth and I think he proposed to her in a letter and then yeah I'd miss you into Hawaii they are married and always boring so how did your grandparents reacted to your parents love hearing from like my mom like stories from my mom like she said that she didn't feel very welcomed by my dad's parents especially my grandma I guess like they were kind of Italians tend to also account keep the Italian like Italian it's like a very long history Elena they tend to have a lot of pride about the Italian so I think the fact that my dad chose to marry outside of that it was a little difficult for them to accept I don't think that they said it directly but I think my mom just felt isolated a lot of the times and yeah I just heard on my mom's side grandparents they hated about the marriage because because they are Koreans and Koreans always had this conflict between Japan so like yeah I heard that they really had a difficult time to get along so like my grandparents my mom's grandparents they didn't wanted to see my parents until they got the first child which is my older brother so my older brother was the trigger to be my family inside a Bahamas like they didn't really care that much because they're they're like they're Island people so they're like a big family like my dad is a it's like inside of a family of six so he has two other brothers and three sisters so to the Bahamian people they were just like oh just more family but to my Japanese side they heavily disagreed with him so like I'm like around the start my dad actually received like a blood sign letter from my granddad so I was in like he he cut his finger and then like sealed the envelope with his like with his blood and said like leave my daughter alone but my dad was just like oh well that's okay right I was my dad didn't even like think twice about he was just like now I'm still gonna be with them so so that was that yeah my dad because he was just focused on like my mom so even when he came to Japan a lot of times before their marriage like my my pet my grandparents over here like they would just not be home at the time that they came so like my dad and my granddad did met each other for the first time at like my dad's married I'm at the marriage my granddad acts my dad the question you must hate me so much like you must really hate me because you haven't like I'm always avoiding you and stuff but my dad responded with how can I hate someone I've never met right so since then they understood like their philosophies I guess I like the same and then they became like really became like best friends I don't know why they can't they became they went from avoiding to like being best friends and then even until my granddad like passed away like the last person he wanted this big to was like my dad because they were just like that close well I mean it was there too but like well I if if my dad and him think they just like really gone along like just that good well do you feel like there are more and more half of people in Japan I think so yeah like I've seen yeah like the kids yeah why do you think like that's happening is there just because like Japanese people actually admires the half mmm and how do kids get really cute and like they really expect the half kiss to be good-looking cute pretty yes I think like more people are coming into Japan too it's like there's just like more racist there's more opportunity to meet new people and I think Japanese people are also venturing you decided to learn more than before that's my opinion I don't know I think so I think there's just like more opportunity to meet different kinds of people and I think it's also becoming I think more accepted you know to you know have mixed couples and with kids and and I think it's just maybe just increasing I see and yeah like when we turn on the TV in here we see so many health models right like you said like they're on TV and stuff often but I feel like to have people who are on TV are though pretty yeah so it's not necessary that we all have people are beautiful is it like this examinees or any other people be like true they're like they really expect the half people to be good-looking or pretty when I like when the person is not actually that pretty or good-looking the people who have a weird reaction about that is there anyhow hierarchy here in Japan like a lot of my friends are half Filipino and half Japanese and they said that they were envious of the fact that I'm half Italian because they feel that they have to hide their Filipino side because they feel that they're not accepted as well in Japan so they say that they're half Spanish because it sounds yeah yeah so that was kind of the first time that I had heard something like that so it's like very possible like when I hear everyone's stories that maybe it is like half Caucasian isn't it getting a little bit like I guess like on TV and it's more considered maybe like an ideal which is like a like a very strange transition Mary because in the u.s. especially where I grew up it was literally like all Caucasians and then me and my mom so like we were always kind of like isolated and a little bit discriminated against spend the u.s. being half Japanese you're not considered Caucasian so white privilege was not something that I was experienced if anything I was like bullied all the time like we got when I was with my mom we were ignored in restaurants you know like and I get viewed as this completely Asian like when I would go to restaurants with my dad who is white like I would make sure to say in front of the wages dad because I didn't want them to think he's on and she was like a young girl like that happens a lot so I always like have to like I why people don't view me as like it make sense so like I never felt like a part of like the Italians and like no white people it's like when I came here like I'm one of you guys I'm Japanese there looks like you like white I'm like what's happening right because like I mean in Bahamas is like the same thing right because even though like I'm pretty dark but and everyone is like like this cover like they have a joke but it like people have like pretty dark but people are actually like pretty black so like when people see me they don't treat me as like a baby yeah the local like they obviously think like oh he makes he's mixed with something and then they and then like some people even just call me like straight like white boy or like asian boy you know even though I look like this they're just like Asian boy the asian boy lay it's just like that even though I look like this they can like tell that there's something different what kind of stereotypes do Japanese people have Towers have people personally because I'm half black then people would just think oh they must be good at basketball he must be good at running and I mean but that's just depending on the other race you know I don't know if this is the kind of stereotype point out of it then like when I tell them that I'm half Korean they think I don't know why but then they first think it's North Korea so like they'll be like asking me about how North Koreans are living and how their whatever the things about the North Korea but I don't know I'm from South Korea I don't know do you know anything about North Korea but then like you know like how a couple of years ago there were a lot of troubles between Japan and North Korean I still they're going on with their neck I think that's the reason why they have more MORE about North Korean in there I mean it's because like now that I've changed my Japanese like they wouldn't notice that I mean half Korean it anymore but then like I used to have about this Korean accent a really strong Korean accent in my Japanese so like they would just notice it right away and they was just like are you from North Korea or you're like a spy I'm like ah I'm like when I tell them that my half Korean they think like I eat kimchi every day and that's the reason why I have a like better skin it's like people always ask me do you eat kimchi every day I'm like maybe yeah not everyday though you know it's the same with black people man what what do you think I think maybe in general like we mentioned before I like half people are considered beautiful or pretty or something which i think is totally perpetuated by the media because that's just like the type of people have people that we are exposed to more often and also the character of that person tends to be a little bit Bach Akira they're not stupid in real life or anything like that but they you play that character like and where they ask you to be a little bit more like aggressive or seeing such Japanese people wouldn't typical dummy so what I'm saying like even when I was in an agency and I like talked about potentially doing TV like I said at the time like I don't feel comfortable enough with my Japanese because I'm still learning they said actually it's more interesting it's funnier if you mess up so actually don't study Japanese like that's kind of like the image that they wanted to put on TV so sometimes it's like I wish I could change that so in general how do Japanese people treat half people I think it's gotta be different from you guys cuz like they won't really notice that I'm a half person unless I tell them that I'm half when I tell them that I'm a half Korean they admire for like ten seconds and after ten seconds they were like but oh good but joke like like a Korean maybe maybe not you know so sometimes like for me because I am so close as my mom and because I feel very connected to my Japanese ER it's like sometimes it makes me feel a little lonely like oh like why won't you see me as one of you like why do you have to like be so careful around me but I know that it's always good intention which actually makes it harder just like sorry about it I don't want to offend them either because I know they're just trying to be nice to me like at one time I had a boyfriend in Japan like it was a long time ago but I went to visit his parents and they knew that I was half Italian so they ordered me pizza while they ate job and I knew that they were just trying to be calm by the way I can eat other foods and so it's kind of just like that like I knew that they were just trying to be welcoming yeah and you're from the US because I feel like really most of the time they really don't have bad intentions they're just trying to be kind it's more like like you said like a lack of X like a knowledge or experience I think my first time it's like they try to be careful and they tried to be kind only like one time of experience like straight up I think like it's very like your house like I wasn't allowed into a restaurant with my how friends so they were like oh like no guy team and we're like we're yeah in Japan and like my electro friends were born and raised in Japan too but they don't look very Japanese I guess like the type of house that they were like they look more like foreign man so like we weren't allowed in the Russian but let you guys were speaking them and jump in Japanese but they still answer us in English oh my god like you've been a doozy that glow like unknown me somebody's got how many people are gonna be like son mean this is like go to number three I'm like I just spoke yeah I think I try to be kind like they looked at my face maybe they assumed I couldn't speak Japanese even though I was just speaking yeah maybe they were I really think it's mostly kindness except in the restaurant buddy oh yeah I went to a yakitori place in Shibuya with my American friends and my Japanese friends so some of us can read Japanese and some of us couldn't so we asked for an English menu and a japanese menu and we noticed that the prices on the English menu were two times higher point and so we were like trying to figure out like is there a difference in the amount that they're giving or something like it couldn't possibly be that they're just like charging foreigners more money it's what we asked the waiter were like warrior the price is different and he called over his manager and his manager started yelling at us in English like tax tax we're like talks like like what does that mean and he was like whiners don't know how to play pay tax we're like what like if it's written in the in the cheque like if it's included of course we'll pay so they kind of got like found out that they were charging foreigners more money because usually you wouldn't ask for both menus you know yeah we just happened to move both so like I don't know like about you guys so because I'm half like if I go with my Japanese friends or non Japanese friends the Russians I'll feel the difference in like the service cuz they'll view me as a foreigner or as the Japanese depending on what language I'm speaking in pretty sure that's just why I like he kind of like freak down like y'all but ask like Oh max so do you have any advantage is that normal Japanese people don't have if you're Japanese doesn't come out right because if you look half they might just be like oh okay you just have so that's like a pass 1/2 pass it's like a freebie when you don't know or you make a mistake and like it for example the language or not knowing the culture or something it kind of like it's because I'm half I know and then they're more likely to be more forgiving towards yeah yeah your actions if you don't know something but there's kind of like a limit to it and then there's like say job opportunities because I guess we're a half as well I mean because of their background you know like your background I think you were able to get like the English drawing and then because I'm half I'm able to be like a model now in terms of your identity have you had big struggle with like growing up have you thought like Oh Who am I exactly or something every half goes through because they they think like what country do I really belong to right because it's like both countries someone's saying something about you so it's like then which country do I really belong to so depending on the person who's like looking at YouTube it's you in a completely different way you think it's always that stereotype I think you're always eating hamburgers Mel's like I barely like Y evening that but yeah I don't like that stereotype also kinda gets like yeah and Bahamas is like pretty weird actually because like for Bach bohemian people and when they think Asian they think everything is just Chinese right right so it's like when when I say like oh yeah I'm half Japanese and then this like we're in China is that right okay but like it's stereo but they just don't know really so they say like do you eat like rat and dog and stuff so like I'd be like hmm I'm just like okay no I don't but I think every half goes through identity crisis at one point inside their life right so I mean and to deal with it every half does a certain like dude that's different things like maybe you get your mind off of it like with hobbies or you try to like like not just hobbies but there's other ways to like deal with it as well some people go to therapy because like if they want someone to like listen to their problems so I mean in terms of like how to deal with it that would be different with every half but the fact that every half does go through an identity crisis at one point at their life when you were young how aware were you that you are not fully Japanese when I was young I didn't know that I was part Japanese I thought I was full Korean first because I was born and raised there and my dad kind of visited me sometimes so like I didn't think he was a foreigner you know like I just thought that he wasn't really good with Korean they didn't think him as a foreign person then like all of a sudden like when I went to the elementary school I I had to go to a Japanese school that was in Korea and I didn't speak any Japanese I thought everyone knew how to speak Korean but then like when I went there like people didn't know how to speak Korean at all and they speak different language and my parents will tell me that they're Japanese people from Japan and I'm like why am I here you know and then like I finally realized that I was part Japanese and didn't really try to learn Japanese cuz I was art that's just first grade you know like I wouldn't want to study alone but then I just eventually just got along with them and they're now to speak I would say that I'm like the opposite because it's like it's kind of obvious for me because because I mean just inside of my house it's just like very black dude very yellow person so for me I had and then my mom would constantly speak Japanese to me like she would use no English to me so she only speaks Japanese to me and then my dad only speaks English to me and then like say my skin complexion is already different from like everyone around me plus my hair as well I would say like my hair when I used to do it younger I haven't done it think today but if I say wash it and gel it properly it would just fall down it would just be wavy you know so it'd just be like actually like half so it's not like fully curly and like like hard and it's not fully straight it's just like wavy and it's just like curvy so I have to be like a way of that from a child and then everyone else around me it's just like saying that I'm Asian from like a child I don't know like I said in my surrounding there were like no other Asian people so I kind of actually thought I was like full Asian I don't know why even though I had a white dad like but I didn't look like Caucasian compared to my other friends and I might look different and they would mention that I looked different like my eyes are smaller or something like they would be like can you see like yes I can oh so I kind of really thought of myself as full Asian for a long time like I don't know it wasn't really viewed as Italian anyway I think it was when I started visiting Japan as I was older like maybe in high school like I noticed that my clothing like my style and stuff it's a little bit different I couldn't speak the language at all when I would come to Japan so my mom would translate for me all the time and people would just make a lot of comments like oh like you don't look Japanese like there's any home gym book and ie or your style is very American or stuff like that so then that's when I was like wait Mike what's happening so like it kind of things started happening in high school and I was a little bit more aware of how people were viewing me when I was younger I just didn't care I was just like wearing what I wanted to wear and stuff like as you get older you know people start making comments especially in Japan like oh like your clothing style is different your nose is high or something like like those kinds of comments are coming and I was like what's happening so I think that's when I started like feeling okay I might not be accepted fully as Japanese here so maybe I really do look how or something yeah oh how did it make you feel when you like realize or when you think of that how does it make you feel I mean I would like surprised so say like in Bahamas I would people would say that I eat rat and dog and then in Japan when I used to I used to come like every summer and I remember there was one time that I um went to my friend's house and his grandmother was there and his grandmother didn't look really excited to meet me right right and then like at the time I don't think she knew I probably spoke Japanese so she took like my friend into the other room and then said like then this one I stopped eating with the conductor at the time I didn't know what it meant but then like a year or two later when I like thought of what else like huh that's pretty racist like oh yeah I was like oh that's pretty racist I'm like okay but then like when I realized it like one or two years down the line it was like okay I don't belong to Bahamas but I don't belong to Japan either so it's just like I have to stay like in the middle basically that's like when I really realize that yeah I totally know how you feel I think that's like yeah like the half connection you sound like we understand each other like we're all three different kinds of mixes but it's like we can understand each other it's like ya heart that sounds so cheesy like all gods are different experience there's probably different degrees of experiences but at the same time it's like okay but we're all like not really belonging any recently what's belong here say what ways do you feel like it's happening first on an unknown Japanese person now that I've been in Japan for five years I think like when I was in this is that Gaia working people used to call me a nickname oh I am I am a samurai is like whenever there was a problem going on with the customers I I went there to apologize for them but then that was the first thing that I thought what Japanese people are like like they apologize a lot the truth I apologize a lot meaning like but then they're really thinking about the other person you know like trying to be nice to another person but also it means like they're avoiding the conflict they want to finish it as quick as possible so like when I'm apologizing I feel like I'm being a not actually facing the conflict but apologize it and let's finish it here like that's that's when I feel like I'm a Japanese person I mean I guess when you have to speak like Kegel and you have to like and do like taht America like because you're basically creating like a wall between yourself and the other person which I wasn't really used to when I was in Bahamas I just like talk to everyone like how I just friendly but in Japan you have to like treat it right in a certain type of way so coming to Japan and learning that I understood like okay I have to treat people in this type of way because you don't really get to have that connection with the person that you want to write yeah yeah so like I mean I don't like it but it looks like something that you kind of have to yeah yeah yeah I guess I would say like after moving to Japan I think I picked up a lot of manners that I like cool thanks like I'm getting yeah you like and it's like movement yeah in the u.s. I'd be like this like smell like this like mannerism that I'm nervous like I'm always going like this yeah you know honey on the phone like if I talk yeah okay you're stuck but if I talking English okay got it I wouldn't I wouldn't do this so I think I feel like my mannerism change a little bit like helpful like when you feel it actually I don't feel like a Japanese yeah what's the moment of that I think it's when I decide that I don't care what people think of me cousin in Japan like I feel like I try so hard to fit in all the time and like me where like the proper like clothing that's like Japanese girls wear and like try to fit the cell and sometimes just like you know what I don't care and then that's not I feel like okay I'm gonna leash I'm would not for me much like it's like they were always like people say like there's an elysian there's a foo me like from these really like like very like fun like I tried to be very like conservative with like everything but sometimes Alicia's just like when I'm with you I feel pretty like I'm being like my American self Oh like it says something and I disagree but yeah but I disagree my Japanese friends a good if you were like if you will have the chance and you can born again would you want to be a half again I would say you know I would say yes because okay how I think now I've never once in my life blame my parents for like having me be born half right it's a lot of half look for something to blame why do I have to get this racism why do I have to get this this like all of this like this smack difficulties right but if it's really based it's just society really you know so if if people just if a lot of other hats were understand like you shouldn't release be shouting at your parents I know if some half that actually like blame their parents like because like they don't they don't want to have like they don't want to be different they want to feel like they belong they want to feel as if they belong but it's really I would say more like the society itself instead of you shouldn't really blame your parents you should just really accept the situation that you're in now and just accept who you really like just turned out to be you can't really change that at this point so that's why I would say if I had a choice I would still be happy again because my whole mindset like all of my the way that I think now is just because of me being like half I think yeah I do I do want to be a half again I know that I had a lot of conflict between Korea and Japan and but I've been loved by cream friends and also my Japanese friends and all the other countries and I think I was able to do that because I was a half Korean and half Japanese and also there were my friends who actually who didn't really like about Japan but just because I got we got to be along he started to like Japan and he said that not all the Japanese people were like that you know like he starts to understand and that's when I felt like this is something that we could do as a half you know I don't know yeah I'm not this is kind of embarrassing but I wish I could kind of be a bridge between Korea Japan I'm not like I wish the half Korean half Japanese not only half Korean half Japanese about the half kits to have a better life later on and to Ford that like it has to be the world has to be more globalized or international ways I don't know what it can do for it but I wish I could do something about it like even a little part of it thanks for joining us today it was really fun to talk to you all and you got the resume stuff hope you found this discussion insightful we want to thank all of our participants for openly telling their stories and for the honest discussion did you like this new discussion format let us know in the comment sections below we are always trying to bring ordinary people's voices together to discuss social issues and we feel this open format allows for these kind of candid discussions if you want to see more videos like this be sure to subscribe to Asian boss and as always stay curious [Music] you

Channel: undefined

Views: 1,004,648

Rating: 4.9441376 out of 5

Keywords: hapa, half, japanese, japan, tokyo, mixed, race, mixed race, asia, half japanese, half korean, half italian, half american, exotic, culture, cultural differences, asian boss, stay curious, half black, ethnicity, nationality, identity, cultural bridge, international, youth, global, globalization, japanese girl, insight, story

Id: wfLseB1vkt8

Length: 32min 46sec (1966 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 18 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/acenase]

The only thing that’s different about a full Japanese and Half Japanese who were both born and raised in Japan and both speak fluent Japanese is their skin color/look. And people try to treat them differently as if they don’t belong there just because they “look” different.

It’s the same problem in America. People who are of European ethnicity and “white” feel like they belong in America more than people who are of Asian ethnicity yet born and raised in America, they are the exact same as them and is just as American as them who were also born and raised in the country, except the only difference is looks. One looks asian and the other looks white.

[u/kimchiwursthapa]

I'm not half Japanese but the interviewee's life experiences are very similar to my own as a half Korean. Very relatable interview on Asian Boss.

[u/[deleted]]

Very interesting how the mixed asian feels like he is treated as a foreigner when he reveals his halfu status. While the blasian guy feels like he is treated as japanese after telling that he is halfu.

Also the mixed asian having their grandparents hate each other must be sad. Also the blasian kid father getting a threat to leave his daughter is extreme as hell.

[u/Iwantcoolcard999]

I know its off topic but i remebr this fully white girl that was born in japan and grew up there and only speaks japanese she faces extreme discrimination and never felt like she had a hometown it was very moving

It seems asian countrys seem to struggle very hard with understanding that immigrants can and do assimilate

This is why i cant say personally i think living in an asian society will be much better for us.